Prof. Masayuki Amagai 

Department of Dermatology, Keio University of Medicine

Laboratory for Skin Homeostasis, RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences

Masayuki Amagai, M.D., Ph.D. has been Professor and Chair, Department of Dermatology, Keio University School of Medicine since 2005. He has also been Team Leader, Laboratory for Skin Homeostasis, RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences since 2013. He has served professional societies in leadership positions including as President of Japanese Society for Investigative Dermatology (2012-14), and Director of Japanese Dermatological Association (2010- ). He has also been serving a number of international journals, including as Consulting Editor for the Journal of Clinical Investigation (2007- ), Section Editor for Journal of Investigative Dermatology (2002- ), and Editorial Advisory Board for British Journal of Dermatology (2001- ).

Prof. Jonathan Barker BSc MD FRCP FRCPath 

St John’s Institute of Dermatology, King’s College London, London UK

Jonathan Barker is Professor of Medical Dermatology at St John’s Institute of Dermatology, King’s College London, having been appointed in 1992, and Academic Head of Department since 2002.

Professor Barker is Co-Director of the Skin Therapy Research Unit and Head of the Psoriasis Service at the Institute, a tertiary referral service for patients with severe disease.  His research interests focus on inflammatory skin diseases, particularly psoriasis and extends from genetic discovery through to clinical outcome measurement. He is a chief investigator in an international consortium designed to map psoriasis susceptibility genes. He is deputy director of a multi-centre MRC stratified medicine programme in psoriasis outcomes to biologic therapy. He sits on the British Association of Dermatologists biologics outcomes registry steering committee.

Professor Barker has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers, authored and edited several books.  Recent publications include those in Nature Genetics and New England Journal of Medicine. He sits on the editorials boards of several dermatology journals.  He is past President of the European Dermatology Forum, and a Director of the International Psoriasis Council.  He is Secretary-Treasurer of the European Society for Dermatological Research.

Prof. Thomas C.G. Bosch, PhD 

Thomas Bosch studied biology at the University of Munich, Germany, and Swansea, United Kingdom and earned his doctorate in 1986. Since 2000, Bosch has been a professor of general zoology at Kiel University. From 2010 to 2013, he served as vice president of Kiel University. Since 2013 Thomas Bosch is heading the interdisciplinary research center “Kiel Life Science” (KLS). Bosch is the recipient of numerous awards; in 2014, he received an honorary doctorate degree from St. Petersburg State University, Russia.

Prof. C. B. Bunker MA, MD, FRCP 

Chris Bunker was educated at St Catharine's College, Cambridge and Westminster Medical School, London.  He is a Consultant Dermatologist at University College and Chelsea & Westminster Hospitals, and has a personal Chair at Imperial and University Colleges, London. 

He is a past President of St John's Hospital Dermatological Society and the British Association of Dermatologists and currently President of the Dermatology Section of the Royal Society of Medicine, the UK Board Member of the European Academy of Dermatovenereology and Hon. Sec. of the British Skin Foundation.

Clinical and research interests include toxic epidermal necrolysis, melanoma, male genital dermatoses and HIV Dermatology (>300 pubs.). 

Prof. Nigel Bunnett 

Nigel Bunnett is a National Health and Medical Research Council Australia Fellow, Professor of Pharmacology and Medicine, and Deputy Director of the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Science. He obtained a Ph.D. degree from the University of Cambridge, was a post-doctoral fellow at UCLA, and an Assistant Professor at the University of Washington. In 1987 he joined UCSF, and remained there for 25 years, becoming Professor of Surgery and Physiology, Vice Chair of Surgery, and Director of the UCSF Center for the Neurobiology of Digestive Diseases. Nigel relocated to Monash University, Melbourne in 2011. Nigel’s research focuses on the mechanisms of neurogenic inflammation and pain. He is particularly recognized for his work on the signaling, trafficking and functions of G protein-coupled receptors and transient receptor potential ion channels, two major classes of cell-surface proteins that are essential for the transmission of neurogenic inflammation and pain.

Prof. Michael Detmar

Michael Detmar obtained his M.D. degree from the University of Freiburg, Germany. After training in dermatology at the Free University of Berlin, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Dermatology in 1991. From 1993 to 2006, he was a faculty member at Harvard Medical School, where he was appointed Associate Professor of Dermatology in 1998. In 2004, he was appointed Professor of Pharmacogenomics at the ETH Zurich, Switzerland. In 2013, he was elected as a member of the Swiss National Research Council. His major areas of research are the role of blood and lymphatic vessels in tumor progression and inflammation.

Dr David J Eedy, MD

Dr Eedy was a medical undergraduate at Queen’s University, Belfast where he qualified in 1981. After a MD on “Neuropeptides in skin” and post graduate dermatology training at the Royal Vitoria Hospital, Belfast, he moved to being a Senior Registrar in Dermatology and St Johns’ Institute of Dermatology, St Thomas’ Hospital, London where he specialised in dermatological surgery. He was appointed Consultant Dermatologist in 1991 in Craigavon, N Ireland where he developed a specialised dermatological surgery department.

President, British Association of Dermatology, 2014-6.

President Elect, British Association of Dermatologists, 2013-4.

Honorary Treasurer, British Association of Dermatologists (2010 -2013)

Honorary Secretary of British Association of Dermatologists (2006-10)

Editor in Chief, British Journal of Dermatology 2003-6.

Editorial Board of 6 peer-reviewed journals.

Author of some 70 scientific papers published in peer-reviewed journals.

Lead author on a textbook “Surgical Dermatology” first published in 1996.

Author of a chapter in Rook’s Textbook of Dermatology: Nervous disease and the skin.

Prof. Christopher E.M. Griffiths MD FRCP FMedSci 

University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

Chris Griffiths qualified in Medicine from St Thomas’ Hospital Medical School, London. He trained in Dermatology at St. Mary’sHospital, London, and at the University of Michigan, USA, where he was on Faculty for 4 years.  He was appointed to the Foundation Chair in Dermatology at the University of Manchester in 1994 and is an honorary consultant dermatologist at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust. Professor Griffiths introduced a multidisciplinary clinic for severe psoriasis – the Manchester Psoriasis Service – awarded Hospital Doctor Dermatology Team of the Year in 2002. At the University of Manchester he has held several posts including Faculty Research Dean and; Director of the Manchester Academic Health Science Centre.

Professor Griffiths’ named lectureships include:  Sydney Watson Smith (2006); Parkes Weber (2007); Von Zumbusch,  Munich (2007) ; Hellerstrom, Stockholm (2010; and Eugene Farber (2015).  He received the psoriasis lifetime achievement award of the American Skin Association in 2009 and in 2015 the Sir Archibald Gray medal for outstanding service to British Dermatology.  In 2011 he was appointed as an NIHR Senior Investigator and elected to Fellowship of the Academy of Medical Sciences.

Professor Griffiths is co-founder and current President of the International Psoriasis Council and a past-President of the British Association of Dermatologists, European Dermatology Forum and British Society for Investigative Dermatology. He is a Board member of the European Society for Dermatological Research and International League of Dermatological Societies. He has published 520 Pubmed cited articles in scientific journals, and is senior editor of Rook’s Textbook of Dermatology. Professor Griffiths has long-standing research interests in all aspects of psoriasis including immunological mechanisms, immunotherapy, pharmacogenomics, and the ‘brain–skin axis.

Prof. Bernhard Homey, Germany

Homey was born in 1968 in Essen. From 1988 to 1995 Homey studied medicine on the Heinrich-Heine-University in Düsseldorf. Afterwards he took an active part as a medical intern and a research fellow at the Department of Dermatology of the Heinrich-Heine-University. He took his doctoral degree in 1998 in Düsseldorf on the subject "Charakterisierung der molekularen und zellulären Mechanismen während primärer allergischer und irritativer Reaktionen im Immunsystem der Haut".

Postdoctoral he was working as a honorary fellow (from 1998 to 2000) and as a “Visiting Scientist” (2000/2001) at the Department of Immunology of the DNAX Research Institue in Palo Alto, USA. 2001 Homey returned to the Department of Dermatology of the University Clinic Düsseldorf. In 2003 he was appointed as a specialist in skin and venereal diseases as well as his habilitation with the thesis on "Chemokine und ihre Rezeptoren: Schlüsselmoleküle der Pathogenese entzündlicher Hautkrankheiten".

In 2004 he became chief resident of the Department of Dermatology and was appointed as a C3-Professor for the subject Dermatology. Two years later, in 2006, Homey was appointed as a W3-Professor (representatively fulfilling the chair for Dermatology) and, after Prof. Dr. Thomas Ruzicka left, as an acting director of the Department of Dermatology. Since then he is head of the Department. Prof. Homey received numerous scientific awards, among others the Paul-Martini-Award, the scientific Award of the German-Hungarian Society for Dermatology, the Reinhard-and-Emmy-Heynen-Award as well as the Immunology Award 2007 of the DANA Foundation, New York. Prof. Homey is married, has one daughter and lives in Grevenbroich.

Prof. Stephen I. Katz, MD, PhD 

Dr. Leyden, USA 

Dr. Leyden is Emeritus Professor at the U. of Penna where he has spent his entire career. His primary research interests involved the role of bacteria in a wide variety of diseases including atopic, seborrheic and diaper dermatitis, interdigital toe web infections, body odor and most notably acne vulgaris. In addition, he has done extensive studies on hand degerming and developing methodologies for evaluating in-vivo efficacy of antimicrobial substances. Other research areas have included the effects of retinoids in photodamage and methods for evaluating pre-clinical toxicology of dermatological products. Dr. Leyden served as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Dermatology and was Chairman of the Board of the Dermatology Foundation for more than 10 years.

Prof. John McGrath MD FRCP FMedSci

John McGrath is Professor of Molecular Dermatology at King’s College London and Head of the Genetic Skin Disease Unit, as well as Honorary Consultant Dermatologist at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals. He trained at St John’s Institute of Dermatology in London, and in Philadelphia and Osaka. His main interests are in genetics and in translational research, such as testing new cell and gene-based therapies for genodermatoses. He is also involved in several next generation DNA sequencing initiatives in the UK including leading on rare skin diseases for the UK Department of Health 100,000 Genome Project.

Prof Dr. Martin Metz 

Dr. Martin Metz (MD) is Professor of Dermatology with focus on pruritus research at the Department of Dermatology and Allergy, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany. He received his medical education at the Free University of Berlin and the Humboldt University of Berlin. He was trained in dermatology at the King’s College Hospital, London and at the University of Mainz, and in experimental pathology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre and Harvard Medical School in Boston (1997–98) and at Stanford University (2004–06) in the USA. He is board certified in Dermatology and Allergology, head of the specialty outpatient clinics for pruritus and principle investigator in the Dermatological Allergology lab at the Allergie-Centrum-Charité. His main scientific areas of interest are mast cell biology, neuroimmunology, inflammation and innate immunity, the major clinical focus is on pruritus and mast cell mediated diseases.

Prof. Graham Ogg

MRC Human Immunology Unit, University of Oxford

 Professor Graham Ogg is interested in the interactions between the cellular immune response and the epidermis.  His research and clinical work is based on the investigations of mechanisms underlying disease pathogenesis of the patients he sees with inflammation of the skin.  Particular areas of focus are the roles of CD1a-restricted T cells and innate lymphoid cells. The focus of the presentation will be on the role of lipid-specific T cells to recognise skin barrier dysfunction.

Prof. Dr. med. Martin Röcken

Prof. Dr. med. Martin Röcken was born in May 1956. After his residency in dermatology at the City Hospital Munich Schwabing, Germany, he started as postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Dermatology at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, from 1988 – 1991. After two years as visiting scientist at the Laboratory of Immunology, National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, USA, he returned in 1993 as Associate Professor of Dermatology to the Department of Dermatology at the Ludwig Maximilians University Munich where he became a regular Professor in 1998. He is the Chair of the Department of Dermatology at the Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen, Germany. He is executive board member of the German Society of Dermatology (DDG) and chair of the Scientific Programming Committee of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV). The clinical and research focus include the autoimmune diseases of the skin, psoriasis and pathogen-host-interactions during infectious diseases including HIV-infection, onco-dermatology, tumor immunology and especially development of tumor immune therapies. Key work was published in the Nature and Cell journals.

Prof. Erwin Tschachler M.D. 

Professor of Dermatology and Venereology 

Head of Research Division of Skin Biology and Pathobiology

Vienna General Hospital (AKH) 

President European Academy  of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) 2014-2016

Erwin received his M.D. degree from the University of Vienna, Austria in 1978 and did his residency training in dermatology from 1983 until 1989 at the Department of Dermatology I at the University of Vienna Medical School. In 1990 he was nominated to full professor of Dermatology at the Department of Dermatology of the now Medical University of Vienna. Since 2004 he is the head of the Research Division of Skin Biology and Pathobiology. Since 2013 he is visiting Professor of the University College Dublin, since 2014 Member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and in 2015 he was elected Honorary Fellow of the Australasian College of Dermatologists.

Prof. Peter CM van de Kerkhof (RUNMC) 

Peter CM van de Kerkhof is Chairman of the Department of Dermatology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre. He has been working for more than 30 years on the pathogenesis and treatment of psoriasis. He has published more than 600 publications in peer reviewed internationally journals and acted as promotor or  copromotor in 63 dissertations. He has been president of several international societies, including the European Society of Dermatological Research and the European Dermatology Forum. He is associate editor or member of the editorial board of 11 international Journals. He is past-president of the International Psoriasis council.

Prof. Dr. Sabine Werner 

Sabine Werner studied Biochemistry in Tubingen and Munich, Germany, and completed her dissertation at the Max-Planck-Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried. This was followed by postdoctoral studies at the University of California San Francisco. From 1993-1999 she was a group leader at the Max-Planck-Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried. From 1995-1999 she was also Associate Professor of Biochemistry at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich. Since 1999 she has been Professor of Cell Biology at ETH Zurich. Her research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of tissue repair processes and the parallels to cancer.